Healing and Hopeful

Jennifer was lost in a season of hurting, but choosing to trust God brought her through to a new beginning.

When all you see of Jesus is ritual. When all you know of God is a list of things to do... and not do. When all you do is follow rules, it’s difficult to follow Him. But He is there, calling you. Just like He was calling Jennifer.

Like so many others Jennifer was in church, but lost. Sunday mornings were more about saving face, going through the motions, doing what she was told and keeping up with the routine. She certainly enjoyed spending the time with her family and friends, even went on a mission trip as a student. But at then end of the day she still felt she was lacking a personal relationship with Jesus.

Eventually, she was a child of God who became swept up by the world. She met a boy, and they were together for several years. They experienced some highs and lows, and they tried to work through problems on their own, but in doing so they only developed a painfully toxic relationship. As their relationship became her entire world, Jennifer was drifting further from God.

When that world came crashing down around her, she was left with seemingly nothing. What ensued was a time of walking her own path, making her own choices and trying to fix things that were simply much too big for her to take on.

But she wasn’t alone. God was there with her, right in the middle of her pain and confusion. During a weekend service, Jennifer heard God clearly speak to her for the first time in her life. He was telling her to leave the brokenness she was in and walk with Him again. And she did.

Though she knew of God from her lifetime in church, she was now focused on getting to know Him personally. There was so much work to be done on her heart and in her mind, and forsaking the urge to keep doing things her way, she decided to trust God with her restoration. She joined Starting Point and from there, things really began to come together. Once the group was finished, she knew she was ready to take that next step and be baptized.

Trusting God wasn’t easy for Jennifer, but she made the decision to do it, a little bit every day. She wanted more than mundane actions and trying to do life on her own. She wanted healthy relationships and to be herself again. Most of all, she wanted to believe that there was much more to the life she was living.

And so, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, bearing the word “TRUST” over her heart, Jennifer stepped into the water and told the world she was truly a child of God. Now it wasn’t a matter of attendance and actions, but admission and awe. She now knew that He was good. She knew He was able to do more than she could ever ask or imagine. And if He could care for her in her sin and struggles, she could follow Him for life.

“Once you’re at the bottom, the only way to go is up. And that’s where God is, waiting to give you a hand. You just have to trust Him.”